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Fields to be named for park director

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

By FRED CONTRADA

fcontrada@repub.com

NORTHAMPTON - Ray A. Ellerbrook isn't used to being the
star of the show. He's more like the guy who sets the
stage. So when he got the call a few months ago that the
city is naming new playing fields in his honor, Ellerbrook
was uncharacteristically speechless.

"I always thought it would be a rest room," he
said.

Nonetheless, longtime colleagues and local officials will
gather at the piece of land at 48 Burts Pit Road currently
known as Parcel C on Saturday to rename it the Ray
Ellerbrook Athletic Fields.

Since 2002, Ellerbrook, 61, has overseen one of the
city's prime recreational areas as director of Look
Memorial Park. Prior to that, he headed the city's
Recreation Department for a quarter of a decade. It was
during his tenure there that the city set its sights on the
former Northampton State Hospital land off Burts Pit Road.

"It coincided with the closure of the state
hospital," Ellerbrook recalled. "One of the main
things the city needed was more playing fields."

Ellerbrook originally envisioned the land as a possible
site for Northampton High School football games. Before the
home field was regraded as part of the high school
renovation a few years ago, it was in poor condition.
Although Parcel C is no longer needed for that purpose, it
supports soccer, lacrosse, softball and other athletic
activities.

For all the work he does behind the scenes, Ellerbrook is
not used to being in the spotlight. He got used to that
dynamic during his basketball days at the University of
Massachusetts, where he stood in the shadow of teammate
Julius Erving. The 6-foot-1 Ellerbrook was a nifty enough
shooting guard, but it was Erving, an eventually NBA Hall of
Famer, who got the ink.

Ellerbrook, who was a senior when Erving came onto the team as a sophomore in 1969, recalled the moment they knew UMass was onto something special. Providence College, which was ranked number one in New England, came to Curry Hicks Cage expecting an easy win. Instead, Erving dropped 27 points on them and grabbed 29 rebounds and UMass came away with the victory....